Freya’s POV
The elevator doors had barely closed when my phone started ringing. Isabella’s na flashed across the screen.
"Excuse ," I murmured to the others before answering, "Hello?"
"Mom, are you done with work? When are you coming ho?" Isabella’s voice sounded eager.
Since my ankle injury, Isabella had been calling daily. Yesterday, after learning I’d healed, she’d asked when I’d be ho. I’d been too swamped with work to commit to anything then.
"Just finished, sweetheart. I’ll be ho soon," I promised, my heart warming despite the emotional ss I’d been navigating all day.
By the ti I hung up, we’d reached the ground floor. Finn looked at with undisguised curiosity.
"Miss Freya, you have a child?" he asked, surprise evident in his tone.
"Yes," I answered simply, not offering more.
"I... wouldn’t have guessed," he said, clearly recalibrating his assumptions about .
I could practically see the wheels turning in his head. He’d probably assud Johnny and I were a couple, given how attentive Johnny had been toward throughout the etings.
Kim joined in, equally surprised. "Is your husband in our industry as well?"
I froze montarily, the casual question landing like a grenade. "Sothing like that," I managed to reply, keeping my voice neutral.
Finn nodded thoughtfully. We’d discussed technical matters earlier, and he’d clearly recognized my expertise. He seed about to ask more about my husband but must have sensed my reluctance from my expression and thankfully dropped the subject.
Johnny remained silent beside , though I could feel his tension. I knew he wanted to blurt out that my "husband" was actually their boss, Silvano Moretti himself. But with our divorce pending and their ongoing business relationship with Umbra Technologies, such a revelation would only complicate matters unnecessarily. Worse, once they knew who I was, so might target to curry favor with Aurora.
After leaving Umbra Technologies, Johnny and I parted ways.
When I pulled up to the mansion, Isabella was already waiting downstairs. She ran to the mont I stepped out of the car. "Mom!"
"Hey, sweetie," I said softly, stroking her hair. Before I could ask if she was hungry, she looked down at my feet.
"Mom, are you really better?" Her eyes were full of genuine concern.
"Yes, all healed up," I assured her.
"Which part was hurt? Let see!" she insisted.
Relenting, I slipped off my cotton shoes and pointed to my previously injured ankle.
Isabella crouched down to examine it closely. "I don’t see any wounds..."
"The swelling’s gone down completely, so you can’t see anything now," I explained.
"Oh..." She stood up and took my hand. "Mom, you just recovered, you shouldn’t stand too long. I had dinner prepared for us. Let’s eat!"
"Sounds perfect," I said, letting her lead to the dining room.
The table was set for two. Silvano’s place sat conspicuously empty.
Noticing my gaze, Isabella explained, "Dad said he’s busy with sothing and won’t be ho for dinner. It’s just you and , Mom."
Rembering Silvano and Aurora leaving together in the elevator, I wondered bitterly if his "sothing" involved dinner with her. I kept that thought to myself.
Throughout dinner, Isabella chatted animatedly. Perhaps because I’d given her more freedom lately, she seed more affectionate than she’d been in weeks, without any of her usual impatience.
After dinner, she asked to help her bathe, wash her hair, and blow-dry it. I agreed to everything. She even asked to take her to school the next day, which I happily promised to do.
We hadn’t properly seen each other for ten days since the hot springs resort incident, so I decided to stay at the mansion that night. But I didn’t return to the master bedroom. Instead, I planned to sleep in Isabella’s room.
I could see confusion in her eyes as she watched shower in her bathroom and prepare to sleep in her room. The last ti I’d slept with her had been when she was sick. She seed puzzled why I wasn’t returning to my room with Silvano, but she didn’t ask.
In truth, I knew she enjoyed sleeping together—she’d often told how she loved that I slled sweet and felt soft to cuddle against. So she accepted my presence without question.
I noticed her checking her phone several tis before bed, though, and suspected she was texting Aurora goodnight. She was being careful not to let see, which confird my suspicions.
By the ti we settled in for sleep, it was already past eleven, and Silvano still hadn’t returned ho.
When I woke the next morning, I learned he hadn’t co ho at all. The last I’d seen him, he was leaving with Aurora. I tried not to let my mind wander to where—or with whom—he’d spent the night.
I pushed those thoughts aside, drove Isabella to school, and headed to SF AI Solutions for work.
It was becoming painfully clear that Isabella’s thoughts remained fixated on Aurora. She only seed to need intermittently—when she hadn’t seen for too long or when Silvano and Aurora were unavailable and she felt bored. Otherwise, she didn’t really need .
True enough, after learning my ankle had fully healed, she stopped calling daily and never questioned why I wasn’t coming ho at night.
As for Silvano, he had never cared about my whereabouts anyway.
SF AI Solutions had recently secured two major projects, bringing in significant revenue, so on Friday, the company organized a team-building event. The location was decided by consensus among the employees.
Everyone unanimously voted to visit a hot springs resort.
When I received the notification, I couldn’t help but give a bitter smile.
Johnny noticed my expression. "Sothing wrong? Not a fan of hot springs?"
"It’s nothing," I replied.
But it wasn’t nothing. I was rembering just two weeks ago when Silvano and Isabella had abandoned at a hot springs resort, leaving all alone. It felt like yesterday, though almost half a month had passed.
Ti flies when your life is falling apart.
Despite my reluctance, I couldn’t miss the first team event since rejoining the company, so I went along with everyone.
Unlike the private hot springs estate where we’d gone before, this was a large comrcial resort with various entertainnt facilities.
After changing into a bathrobe, I headed to the won’s bath. Our company had few female employees, and no one else had arrived yet. I had just settled into the water when I noticed a little girl about Isabella’s age crouching at the edge of the pool, curiously reaching toward the water.
The pool was about four feet deep, and the child looked shorter than that. Concerned she might fall in, I started to rise—just as she tumbled into the water with a splash.
I rushed over, quickly pulling her out and holding her in my arms. She clung to my neck, coughing and crying, her face turning red from the effort.
I patted her back gently, trying to comfort her while asking about her family as I carried her toward the staff area to find help.
As soon as we exited, I froze. Standing just a short distance away was Alpha Xander.
Before I could react, the little girl in my arms stretched her hands toward him through her tears. "Uncle Xander!" she cried.
Selene instantly went alert, recognizing the powerful Alpha’s presence. I stood perfectly still, holding his sobbing niece, my body instinctively tensing in the presence of another pack’s Alpha.
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